Category Archives: T2: Intentionally planned

I wanted to share this lesson that I created for the American history class. I felt like the lesson went really well; students were engaged and shared some very meaningful responses to the lesson afterwards. As I planned this lesson I tried to focus on having a variety of activities to keep students interest throughout the period. By starting with a song by an artist that most of the students would know, I could tell that they were eager to hear more about how the song related to our topic for the day. The reading excerpt that students read in class and finished as homework details the life of a Japanese American girl living in the Seattle area during World War II. As the students read about her experience, they could recognize landmarks and cities from their own area, which helped them make more personal connections to the story. Finally, in the PowerPoint lecture I tried to include pictures that would show students how severe the situation was for many people. The pictures were also helpful in showing students how the city of Seattle was affected during this time.

The attached documents include the lesson plan, song lyrics, PowerPoint, and reading excerpts used in class.

The attached document is a brief, albeit wordy, presentation regarding “specific learning disabilities with an emphasis on reading within the context of a high school social studies classroom.” Although written over a year before I entered the classroom for my internship, my interest in literacy spurred me to learn more about reading disabilities. Much of my research yielded results on how to help students with reading difficulties in the classroom. I have made an effort to apply many of the strategies in my classroom. Even for students who are not labeled as having a learning disability in reading, they can benefit from using these strategies. One in particular that has been extremely beneficial as I work with certain students has been the idea of model thinking. By reading aloud and then walking students through my thought process verbally, they begin to see how they can think through some of their struggles.

Throughout this course I learned about the importance of integrating different subjects into my social studies lessons. It has become apparent to me throughout my internship that students can retain more information when they are able to make connections to prior knowledge or are able to see the relevance of their classwork. That being said, it is essential that I intentionally plan lessons that allow students to draw on knowledge from other classes that they are taking. One activity in this unit specifically requires students to work as a factory owners and families to see how wages and cost of living were very important during the Industrial Revolution; the math portion of this activity gave students the opportunity to strengthen their skills while giving certain students the potential ability to use their math talents. In addition to math, I make every effort to include reading and writing into the class on a daily basis in order to strength their skills and give them the opportunity to practice outside of the Language Arts classroom. By using integration across the content areas, students begin to see the importance and relevancy of the learning taking place in the classroom.

The attached documents attest to my ability to deliberately plan lessons in which social studies content is combined with reading and writing strategies. The topic and assessment were carefully chosen based upon a number of factors including state standards in social studies and writing. I also liked the idea of giving students step by step instructions to formulate this essay; reseach shows that determining cause and effect for particular events helps comprehension. Additionally, I felt that the use of graphic organziers could be particularly helpful in this process. By providing students with a well-planned process for how to accomplish their final product, they know what to do in order to succeed and I have integrated reading and writing into the social studies classroom in a meaningful way.

This project was developed over the course of several weeks during the Standards-Based Assessment class. While it speaks to a number of different standards, T1 is specifically demonstrated throughout this project. Standard T1 shows that the work is “informed by standards-based assessment (analysis using formative, summative, and self-assessment.)” This project is based on the “Causes of Conflict CBA” for high school history from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. I spent a great deal of time researching both the CBA and different standards for the social studies as I started planning this project. Another helpful document in this process was the recommended rubric attached to the above-mentioned CBA; this helped me to plan out specifically what I expected of students. One of the important ideas that I kept in mind throughout this planning was the fact that I wanted to allow students the opportunity to do sufficient research for the project while giving them the tools to succeed. By giving students specific criteria, including a detailed rubric, they know exactly what to expect and know what they need to do to succeed. Not only is this project informed by standards-based assessments, but it was very intentionally planned in that the standards were deliberately chosen to help students create their own project and aligns with several state social studies EALRs.

The attached documents are a unit plan written for an eighth grade social studies classroom. Studying indistrialization, urbanization, and immigration is an important part of United States history, and this unit was designed to give students important information while encouraging them to make personal connections and think critically. The first document is the unit plan, which includes Desired Results, Assessment Evidence, and a Learning Plan. The second includes several corresponding lesson plans that include more detail about the specific lessons.

This unit plan was created using a backwards planning method, which we learned about in General Teaching Methods (EDU 6135) through our text, Understanding by Design. I started my planning with establishing clear objectives and defining the unit’s essential questions and enduring understandings. I then proceeded to create more detailed performance tasks and lesson plans.

Approval Standard S2 is “aligned with curriculum standards and outcomes,” focusing on “student learning targets and progresses to meet them.” My preparation of this unit plan demonstrates my competency in this area in that, first and foremost, I constructed this unit plan with specific standards and goals in mind. I chose several assessments and skills that students would know and be able to do by the end of the unit, and I create daily lesson plans to help accomplish that goal.